Florida Lessons

Here are a few things that I discovered while on our recent getaway to Sarasota, FL.:

Cell phones do not like the pool. Although my friend Amanda says that they don't mind being thrown in the laundry, we did find out that Jake's phone does not like being in his pocket while he is in 5 foot deep water throwing our five year old around. It is now an ex-phone.

Turtle Beach is a little more family friendly than Siesta Key Beach. Yes, Siesta Key is large and beautiful, has this great white sand, decent waves and a huge concession stand but it has major parking problems and is very crowded! Just down the key a little we discovered (on our last day) that Turtle Beach has tons of parking, great showers, and is MUCH less crowded. We sat right on the waters edge and read our books while Jonah ran back and forth. Well worth dealing with coarser sand (it brushes off much easier anyway!)!

Carry more than one credit card. Despite the fact that Turtle Beach Pub is right across from the beach and has great grouper sandwiches that you can enjoy in your bathing suit it does NOT except Discover card. So make sure husband puts something else in his "mini wallet" (I think he made up the mini wallet for this trip, it was the first I heard of it, and hopefully the last...) for the next beach excerison or someone well have to run back to the condo...

A five year old can be a much better traveler than 2 grown-ups. Someone was just telling us yesterday, and we agreed, that once you hit the big 3-0 you have less tolerance for long car trips, ones that you used to enjoy in your college days. After being in the car for 14 hours one day Jake and I were getting antsy and cranky with each other but Jonah was happily playing with his Power Rangers in the back seat. When asked how he was doing he always said, "I'm happy". I think he only watched 3 hours of movies on that 14 hour day!

Condos, expecially free ones, are the way to go. Jakes's aunt and uncle were very generous to lend us their condo last week. It was wonderful having plenty of space, a pool, and a full kitchen. We didn't have to go out to eat for every meal and saved a little money that way. It was so much more fun and relaxing than a small hotel room.

I need to move to Florida for medical reasons.
Just before our trip I went to the dentist feeling SURE that I had major work that needed to be done because my upper teeth were bothering me a lot. The dentist said that he couldn't find anything and that where I was pointing probably meant that my sinuses cavities were giving me trouble. Everything was fine in FL but now that we've been back two days I've been sneezing and experiences that discomfort all over again.

Sunshine helps, but doesn't solve everything. Both the grief counselor and one of my doctors encouraged us to take this trip- that being somewhere warm and sunny would improve our outlook. It was very relaxing and the time together was great, but you know, you can cry just as hard in sunny Florida as you can in 40 degree IL weather! But I knew that, and I did have some breakdowns (expecially after the credit card incident) but I am glad that we got away. It was a nice distraction. It also gave us time to think and talk and continue to process what happened. We don't have any anwsers but I do feel a little more ready for "life" now that we are back.